Star Wars Characters as Members of Your Radiology Team

We’ve been working hard this year to stress the importance of your radiology department working as a team to improve CT image quality and overall patient care. In your day-to-day experiences, it might not be as easy to see how very interlaced your team needs to become. Whenever intensively educational conferences like ISCT take place, attendees are always inspired to go back home and share what they’ve learned and discuss new techniques, technologies and implementations they want to adopt. The challenge is that after a short period of time, it’s easy to get stuck back into your groove and without your full team’s dedication, you forget all the valuable lessons you’ve learned.

Learning together and engaging in constructive debates and demonstration with your full team will help you gain buy-in from every department, gain insight into new opportunities and bring out the best in everyone. You can even build your own schedule with our customized CT program guide (keep on the lookout for next year's program, we'll be adding it soon!) so each member of your team can grow together. To put this whole “CT as a Team Sport” concept into perspective for you, we drew some comparisons between your computed tomography radiology team and the most epic team in all of the galaxy.

Your Radiology Team as Star Wars Characters:

Radiology Residents: Finn

Finn is new to the team but has had years of intense training to get to this point, just like your #RadRes team members. Just as Finn chose to leave the First Order, your residents have made the challenging decision of choosing their specialty path. Now they must continue to follow their heart as they become even more powerful as future sub-specialists.

CT Technologists: Rey

Just like technologists, Rey is a jack of all trades but is at times underestimated in her field. In reality, however, Rey and technologists can be one of the most powerful members of the team. As she discovers that she has the power of the force, Rey is able to make a powerful impact on the quality of the Resistance mission.

Nurses: Chewbacca

In radiology teams, a nurse is only necessary in more complicated situations but just like Chewbacca, they always step up to play an important role in care delivery. Not only are they highly experienced, but they also bring a level of support unparalleled by the rest of the group.

Medical Physicists: Princess Leia

If your radiology team also works closely with your radiation department, then you know that the physicists play a huge role in managing radiation dose. Just as physicists plan and ensure the safe use of radiation; Princess Leia serves as the Resistance Operations’ General, mapping out the attack of the Starkiller Base.

Radiologists: Luke Skywalker

Despite that he’s very rarely seen, Luke Skywalker is the driving force behind all of his teams’ efforts. (Pun intended.) Radiologists have the sole responsibility of diagnosing patients and honing their power, always learning new approaches and discovering things no one else notices. Also, as a Jedi, Luke’s Light Side of the Force aligns with calmness used for knowledge and defense, rather than attacking a problem. Radiologists must exhibit the same behavior to be successful in care delivery.

BONUS - Partnership Between a Group of Sub-Specialized Radiologists: R2D2 & BB-8

At the end of the movie, it becomes clear that the team is only going to find Luke Skywalker if R2D2 and BB-8 put their heads (read: Laser Displays) together to solve the complicated map puzzle. This intricate map of the galaxy is an overwhelming picture, which is why the two uber-intelligent droids have to collaborate.

In computed tomography, cases are rarely simple and if collaborative efforts are an option, your team should always explore them. Who knows, there could be a light saber in it for you.